Newcastle's Labor councillors have called out the reinstatement of paid staff parking at John Hunter Hospital as another "inconsistent" example of the city's classification as both regional and metropolitan.
The Labor bloc has lodged a notice of motion to the February 27 Newcastle council meeting to seek answers about the NSW government's decision to reintroduce parking fees for nurses, midwives, doctors and allied health workers at John Hunter, Calvary Mater and James Fletcher hospitals from February 1.
The cost was waived during the COVID-19 pandemic, and a NSW government spokesperson said parking was made permanently free at rural and regional hospitals where public transport "was not readily available", which included Belmont and Maitland, but not Newcastle.
The Labor motion asks the council to question the government's inclusion of John Hunter Hospital in the paid parking program, given the re-introduction of paid parking is for metropolitan hospitals only.
It also notes "this situation again highlights the inconsistent manner in which the Newcastle Local Government Area is classified as sometimes regional and sometimes metropolitan, and the financial impact of this inconsistency on our community".
"The setting of the new staff parking fees by the NSW government takes into account public transport fares to encourage employees to use public transport, which City of Newcastle supports, however... many health care workers are shift workers and public transport, particularly in regional NSW, may not always provide a suitable level of accessibility at all times," the motion states.
A Hunter Research Foundation Centre report released in 2020 identified the Newcastle local government area was ineligible to apply for regional funding schemes totalling $5.85 billion.
The city would have received $170.9 million from the grant programs if funding was awarded in line with its share of gross state product in 2019.
